April 11, 2017

(click here for today's pictures)

• I'll start today's blog at last night. My last sentence of the blog was about hopefully having a yummy dessert soon. That never happened. Robby worked and worked on that dishwasher until he finally figured out what was wrong with it. Apparently, all of the nasty in the bottom of my dishwasher was also blocking the drainage hose. Once he figured out the problem it was after midnight so he just tried to put things back in order until he could figure out how to fix the current problem.
• We had just sat down in the living room and we heard a strange sound. The girls are right above us so maybe it was them walking around and possibly clawing. Hmm, we went upstairs and unfortunately, the girls were all sound asleep and no one was clawing to get out of their room. We listened some more and finally decided that some creature was in the attic.
• This is the point in the evening when Robby decided that we should probably just move. We worked up our courage and ventured to the attic door and listened. We couldn't hear anything so Robby opened it up very carefully. I stood on the other side of the door ready to cover myself with a robe hanging nearby while trying not to scream. He shined his flashlight for just a minute before he quickly slammed the door. Yep, a stinking bat! He was a mad little bat and from his clawing sounds he was trying to get out of the house.
• After all of this, it was nearing 2 and we were exhausted but not sure if we would be able to sleep-broken dishwasher and bat in the attic now added to our list of things to worry about! We did go right on to sleep though and left our problems for in the morning.
• Robby took Keaton and Whitman to school this morning while I started on school with the others. The morning went by fairly quickly and everyone was finished by lunchtime. Most chores were even done by lunch. Campbell asked for grilled cheese so I let her make them. She did great but was a bit skittish about flipping the hot sandwiches. After lunch, she continued cooking and made jello for an evening snack.
• Grannymom picked up Keaton and Whitman from school. They had a big day and even went shopping-and bought candy for their brother and sisters. Also they made Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cookies for us to enjoy later tonight. Whitman wasn't too happy to see me when I came to pick him up but when we reminded him about passing out his candy, he was happy to head home.
• The kids were anxious for the neighbors to come out and when they did, everyone went outside to play. They played and played-the girls even went down to their church for a bit to play outside. The boys played outside and by the time that everyone came in, they were filthy, hungry and exhausted. K
• As everyone ran through the showers, we heated up supper-chicken nuggets and mashed potatoes. When supper was over, we ate Whitman and Keaton's cookies and Campbell's jello. By this time, Keaton was so tired that she laid her head on the table!
• We had time to watch one tv show before bedtime tonight. Then it was lights out for all of my Dennie kiddos.
• Dishwasher/Bat update: Grandpa came over to help Robby fix the washer. They worked and worked finally getting it to work. After a few trial runs though it did start leaking. It leaks occasionally depending on how full I fill it so maybe the leak will work itself out. At least a leak is a better than not draining. (Dishwasher update 2-no leaks on our late night dishes-fingers crossed.)  Also after a thorough inspection of my attic, no bats or bat leftovers were found so hopefully that was a one time occurrence. I did even venture into the attic to gather a few bins. I was just fine, though a little skittish, until a sock dropped on my leg. I jumped so high that if there had been a bat in that attic, I would have scared him out of there.